David Ash to start vs. Texas Tech – Monday Presser Tidbits

[bbdude]

After David Ash was benched in the 4th quarter against Kansas last Saturday and replaced by Case McCoy who led Texas to a late-game victory, you have to admit you wondered what that meant going forward… As Texas fans we have seen the quarterback carousel turn a few too many times over the last two seasons and thank goodness we have been saved of it this week. In Mack Brown’s weekly press conference today he released the Texas Tech game depth chart which affirmed David Ash had retained the starting quarterback job. It appears McCoy’s presence in the Kansas game was, in fact, just to provide a “spark” for an offense that had not been able to do much through 3 quarters against the Jayhawks. Ash played poorly, including two interceptions and a meager 63 passing yards. McCoy, praised by Mack Brown today for his preparation and execution as a backup played the backup role well finishing with 68 passing yards and a touchdown after playing less than a full fourth quarter.

Gray Matter – Father vs. Son

For the first time on the depth chart this season true freshman Johnathan Gray is listed as the #1 running back all by his lonesome, ahead of Joe Bergeron, Malcolm Brown (who is still injured) and Jeremy Hills. This is huge news for Gray who has progressed nicely throughout the season, taking advantage of the opportunity to play in the absence of injured Malcolm Brown. Gray led the Longhorn rushing attack against Kansas and notched his first 100 yard game as a Longhorn, rushing 18 times for 111 yards. The game against Texas Tech will be a family affair for the Grays, as Johnathan’s dad James was an All American running back for the Red Raiders in the late 1980’s before being drafted by the New England Patriots in 1990.

Hicks-less

Jordan Hicks was noticeably left off of the depth chart for the first time all season as he continues to nurse the hip injury suffered in the Ole Miss game. Hicks has not played football since September 15th and it is possible the junior linebacker could miss the rest of the 2012 season and apply for a medical redshirt.

The Big 12 is 2-Loss Good

Mack spent a lot of time today praising the merits of the Big 12 conference. The scoring, the BCS rankings, the yards per game, passing touchdowns, the nation-leading touchdowns per game….. He also brought to our attention the fact there there are a lot of 2-loss teams out there that are “really really good football teams.” Some of these teams are teams that can possibly win a national championship — according to Mack. He mentioned Texas Tech as one of these teams but did not mention Texas. The goal for the Longhorns is to finish better than they did last year after playing 8 games and sitting at 6-2.

Setting the stage for what could be a rough day for the Longhorn pass defense, Mack threw Seth Doege in the Heisman race. “I cannot imagine him (Seth Doege) not being a Heisman contender said Mack Brown. True? Sort of. While Doege is not on the short list of candidates his numbers are impressive. He has thrown 30 touchdowns to only 8 interceptions amassing 2,540 passing yards. Doege is likely third in the Big 12 Conference when it comes to being a Heisman hopeful, behind quarterbacks Collin Klein (Kansas State) and Geno Smith (West Virginia). The Red Raiders will definitely need to win out of Doege expects a trip to the Downtown Athletic Club in December.

Little Nuggets

• KU Game Defensive MVP’s – Kenny Vaccaro and Alex Okafor
  
• Josh Cochran named best player on the offensive line
  
• Game MVP’s were Jaxon Shipley & Case McCoy
  
• Saturday was the first time the team has not scored off of a turnover by the defense. Texas recovered a fumbled punt and could not capitalize
  
• Alex King punted well, landing 3 punts inside the 20 yard line & 2 punts inside the 5 yard line
  
• 6 Big 12 teams ranked in the BCS – Texas is ranked 23rd
  
• Texas Tech is ranked 12th in the nation in total defense.
  

The Chart

 

[MBHORNSFAN]

Gray is emerging as the RB we all expected him to be. I feel a break out game for him 27-164

 

[bbdude]

I think you are right Mike. Malcolm Brown's injury ahas opened a door for a beast. Mack mentioned the blocking progress made by Gray today as a reason he has earned the starting job. I don't see how you keep this kid down... Will be interesting to see how the RB position plays out.

 

[Lord Vader]

The only chance we have to win is letting Gray go. He's ready, he's been ready, and we need him.

 

[kriess]

I think Gray's vision is what will set him apart from the rest as the season and his career progresses. His cut-back ability and immediate acceleration are elite level, and going against a Tech front 7 that is somewhat undersized, especially at LB, the skill-set Gray brings us will be on notice in Lubbock.

I also noticed that Tech likes to cover the flats and inside with their secondary with a shallow zone, which will force Ash to win with deep outs, double moves, and TE's over the seam. As far as personnel match-ups, I really like our outlook on offense. On defense, that is a completely different story. If we see consistent stunts and exotic looks from Manny, Eric Stephens will have a field day from the pistol, and they will screen us to death. If we don't see nickel formations for at least 80% our defensive snaps, I will throw my remote through the TV. But we have the athletic talent to create some negative plays. We just have to capitalize.

 

[bbdude]

I expect Gray to rumble for over a hundred on Saturday again against the Tech defense. They are good but I think they are a little tired from playing a pretty rough 3 game stretch against West Virginia, a 3 OT game against TCU and then Kansas State last week. Tech has given up 108 points in the last two games. Let's hope Texas can hang 50 against them because I think it will take us hitting the half a century mark to have a shot at winning. The Red Raiders are poor when it comes to winning the turnover battle this season and let's hope they continue these woes this weekend.

 

[kriess]

I expect Gray to rumble for over a hundred on Saturday again against the Tech defense. They are good but I think they are a little tired from playing a pretty rough 3 game stretch against West Virginia, a 3 OT game against TCU and then Kansas State last week. Tech has given up 108 points in the last two games. Let's hope Texas can hang 50 against them because I think it will take us hitting the half a century mark to have a shot at winning. The Red Raiders are poor when it comes to winning the turnover battle this season and let's hope they continue these woes this weekend.

Great point about the Tech D being tired after the past 3 weeks. They've certainly had their share of bumps and bruises from last week's game against KSU, and I think if we can duplicate at least some success on the ground that the Purple Wizard had, we should be able to control the clock and keep Doege on the bench.

That might be enough to mitigate any success they'll have on our defense, because they will certainly have some. The key is limit the effectiveness of their run game and keep everything in front of our safeties. Play up, tackle hard, and let our athletes win this game.

 

[bbdude]

Great point about the Tech D being tired after the past 3 weeks. They've certainly had their share of bumps and bruises from last week's game against KSU, and I think if we can duplicate at least some success on the ground that the Purple Wizard had, we should be able to control the clock and keep Doege on the bench.
That might be enough to mitigate any success they'll have on our defense, because they will certainly have some. The key is limit the effectiveness of their run game and keep everything in front of our safeties. Play up, tackle hard, and let our athletes win this game.

Like you said it will take a heavy dose of deep balls and big plays to pave the way for Gray's success - Tech gives up only 121 yards rushing per game. We need Shipley to see more throws his way and we need Mike Davis to have another monster game. Re: Tight Ends... I don't know if we will see effective TE play this year which has really hurt us AGAIN. We miss big tall wide receivers like Sweed and Roy Williams. Everyone on our roster is 6-2 or smaller with the exception of John Harris who never plays.

 

[beevomav]

Hicks and Brown should be red shirted.

 

[kriess]

Like you said it will take a heavy dose of deep balls and big plays to pave the way for Gray's success - Tech gives up only 121 yards rushing per game. We need Shipley to see more throws his way and we need Mike Davis to have another monster game. Re: Tight Ends... I don't know if we will see effective TE play this year which has really hurt us AGAIN. We miss big tall wide receivers like Sweed and Roy Williams. Everyone on our roster is 6-2 or smaller with the exception of John Harris who never plays.

I have no idea what the issue is with not getting Harris more snaps. He's an excellent blocker, runs decent routes, has good hands, and is a big body that would be huge on the outside. Whether or not he's in the dog house of Mack is another story. No clue on that front.

I believe Caleb Jones' time is coming soon. His hands are elite, and his route running is getting better. I agree that it is a shame that our larger guys haven't panned out, but we are recruiting them. Somethings just happen, I guess. I think its the Ghost of Roy Williams haunting anyone who puts on that jersey. Buckner, D-Money, etc... Expectations are quite lofty and difficult to fill.

As far as effective TE play, I've impressed with McFarland as a pass catcher. Coming from El Paso where he exclusively was a WR, that was expected. What wasn't expected however, is his learning curve at adjusting to the speed of the game and how well is blocking is coming along. Barrett Matthews and Greg Daniels provide an extra blocking surface on the edges, but give very little to the vertical passing game. DJ Grant is beyond a liability in blocking.

Durham Smythe and Geoff Swaim (January enrollee) can't get here soon enough.

 

[kriess]

Hicks and Brown should be red shirted.

Agreed. That's the best strategy long-term, IMO. I also think we need to transition Bergeron to FB sooner than later. That is where he'll make his paycheck at the next level. Too slow for RB in the League, and really doesn't have elite vision either. Its time for the Law Offices of Brown, Gray, and Johnson to make its mark on national scene.

 

[bbdude]

With the frequency in which Malcolm Brown gets injured I am not sure Bergeron makes that move anytime soon. Hills is marginal at best. Kyle Hicks is supposedly firm in his commitment and the kid can freaking run. It will be nice having him here next season and will give Harsinwhite more flexibility with the running game.

 

[kriess]

With the frequency in which Malcolm Brown gets injured I am not sure Bergeron makes that move anytime soon. Hills is marginal at best. Kyle Hicks is supposedly firm in his commitment and the kid can freaking run. It will be nice having him here next season and will give Harsinwhite more flexibility with the running game.

I'm sold on Hicks. Out of all the RB's we've picked up in the past 3 years, I like Hicks as much as anyone in the class. Don't know exactly why, and he certainly doesn't come with all the accolades of a MB or JG, but his vision and balance are insane. Saw the kid play 2 years ago and I was blown away. I think he's a better fit for this offense over Keith Ford and Dontre Wilson. Not a homerun threat but he has all the tools needed to consistently move those chains.

If we don't move Bergeron to FB yet, I seriously think we should use him strategically in the goalline and short-run packages only. There is little need to line him up, running a pin-n-pull, and have him continuously miss the hole. Love his work on inside zone runs, but power and the pin-n-pull is where we make most of our damage. Vision is what is needed for those runs, and JG has it in spades.

I still hold on to the belief that MB will come back better and stronger in his healing. Its a damn shame his start to his career at Texas has been riddled with the injury bug, but when he's on, he's certainly on. That cut-back against the grain for a TD against Ole Miss was special to watch. Outside of Fozzy's 2011 campaign, we havent had a back with moves like that since 2007's Jamaal Charles.

 

[beevomav]

Brown seems to be slow a healer. Bergeron's role is fine. He should be the relief back but I have not seen any propensity to block and he clearly missed on that caused a huge sack on Ash. We have Gray for two more years and we need to maximize his impact. Every game we see a little more and I like what I see. This kid baring injury is going to be one of the greats and on the next level as well.

 

[bbdude]

The future of this team is Johnathan Gray. Swoopes will be groomed to take over the reins with a clean handoff when Ash finishes his senior year after redshirting. Hicks is the only RB in the '13 class and the coaches love him. Yeah, Malcolm Brown gets dinged a lot it seems which is frustrating but when he plays we win football games. Interesting you used the Jamaal Charles comparison with Malcolm Brown because that's exactly who he reminds me of. I liked Dontre Wilson because of his versatility/athleticism but I think Hicks is a better true running back. Ford is another story - he will be a Sooner so I wish him nothing but failure (at least in the games against Texas).